Second Life, Second Chance, Second Love
by OZ x OZ
Summary: On the day Sotoba burned, two risen souls were saved by two brothers. This is their story. The story of Megumi Shimizu and Ritsuko Kunihiro. Will be Rated M for later chapters. OCxM OCxR
1. Entry 1: Shimizu and Kunihiro: Rescue

**Hello my adored readers one and all! Now I know most of you are anticipating either a Giver or Words update, but this idea couldn't leave my mind! And so, I gathered several writers, Chanou-Chan and Useful Oxymoron, to join me upon writing a fanfic that deals with the question:**

**What if Megumi Shimizu and Ritsuko Kunihiro were saved by two brothers?**

**And so begins our tale, of life itself, of happiness, of sadness, of acceptance, of fear, of love.**

**In a collaberation with ChanouChan, Useful Oxymoron, and Zaru, we bring you:**

**Second Life, Second Chance, Second Love.**

**We do not own Shiki. It belongs to Fuyumi Ono, Fuji TV, and Funimation. We do however, own Kenta and Tsubasa Yamamoto.**

The road ahead seemed to be endless, almost completely bathed in darkness save for a lamppost every few yards.

The road ahead seemed to be endless, bathed in darkness save for a lamppost every few yards.

Even though he had been driving for the better part of the day, Kenta was far from tired. His brother, riding shotgun, was a different story altogether. When he wasn't constantly fighting against nodding off, he looked outside the window into the darkness beyond with a bored expression on his face.

"Kenta," he started, the tiredness evident in his voice.

"If you're going to say 'are we there yet?', the answer is still no," Kenta replied with amusement in his voice. Tsubasa grumbled slightly and resumed looking outside the window.

"Look," Kenta tried. "You're just upset because you've been sitting in the car for so long. And you're right, it was my fault I took a wrong turn."

"Kenta takes a wrong turn. So what's new?" Tsubasa chuckled. "You get lost on the way to work!"

"I do not!" Kenta frowned. "Well... except for that one time, but that only because there was a roadblock for construction and I had to drive differently."

Silence followed.

"We'll get to the _ryokan_ soon and the _onsen_ are open all night." Kenta turned to his younger brother. "From there it's relaxation, nature hikes, and good clean country air. Isn't it nice to get out of the city for a while?"

"Yay," Tsubasa sighed, his voice thick with sarcasm. "My heart _pounds_ with anticipation. But it's still better than seeing you drowning yourself in liquor."

Kenta sighed. His brother was brooding again. And he had to admit the comment stung. His brother didn't like him drinking at all.

The road curved slightly as it cut through a couple of hills, and Kenta's eye caught a road sign which told him he was still heading in the right direction.

"I just thought it would be nice. Us having fun together as brothers," Kenta tried. "It's been almost a year since we went on vacation."

Tsubasa grumbled some more. "Oh, come on. We both know that you're only doing this to get Miho out of your head."

An uncomfortable tension hung in the air as Kenta closed his eyes. "You're being mister Tact today, aren't you?"

Tsubasa didn't meet Kenta's eyes. "Sorry," he said truthfully. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

Despite his apology, Tsubasa continued to look dour and bored. "Like a teenager who's been sitting in a car for 8 hours should", Kenta thought. Almost against his will, his thoughts drifted back to Miho.

"It's not your fault she left you," he forced himself to think again. About a month ago, Miho had semi-suddenly left him for much richer man twice his age. And the past couple of weeks, he had been wracking his brains trying to think what he had done wrong and what he could have done to avoid having Miho leave him.

"_I'm sorry, Kenta,"_ he still heard Miho say. "_I do love you, but it's me and not you. I mean, I am accustomed to a certain standard of living and needs_." She might as well have ripped out his heart and thrust it on a wooden pike.

In the end, it had taken Tsubasa's usual unforgiving bluntness to force Kenta to move on. Tsubasa had found him sitting on the couch, ripped the bottle out of his hands and hurled it against the wall.

"_It's all about the money! Why don't you realize she loves shopping for clothes more than she loves you! Miho doesn't deserve you! Get that through your damn head!"_ his brother had literally shouted in his face.

Quite literally, an eye-opener. It didn't make him hurt any less, though. But as they say, time heals all wounds.

"Kenta?" sounded Tsubasa. "You just took a turn. Are you sure that turn was the right turn?"

"There was a turn?"

"Yes, just now!" Kenta heard the anger rise in Tsubasa's voice.

"Oh," Kenta blinked. "They really shouldn't hide forks in the road."

"God, do you even know where we are?" Tsubasa grumbled a little more.

Kenta parked the car at the side of the road and reached for a crumpled road map which was on the backseat.

"Uh, yes, I, uh, just past..." he said as he studied the map. "Just past this yellow road and this red line and...the turnpike and… uhm… Right, yes, I have no idea where we are."

"Honestly, have you ever printed out the directions at least once in your life" groaned Tsubasa, face still in his palm. Kenta continued to observe the map, sometimes even flipping it over to get a different view point.

"Look Tsubasa, I know it's my fault and I'll make it up to you once we arrive at the _onsen_. If there's a will, there's a way, right?" smiled the elder brother, giving his usual trademark smiles. Tsubasa rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say..."as he dozed out into the woods, his eyes narrowed as he looked on.

"Yo bro"

"Yes?" Kenta looked towards him.

"I see someone" said the younger. He rubbed his eyes to see if his eyes were not playing tricks on him. From his seat, he could see a figure in white stagger towards the road from the woods. Tsubasa got out of the car to get a better look.

His eyes widened as the figure gave away and collapsed.

Tsubasa dashed into the woods, hurrying towards the figure.

"Tsubasa! Where are you going?" yelled Kenta as he put down the map and ran after his brother. But the younger was a track and field runner, while he was a manager at a Government-owned blood bank in Nagasaki. Miho had always said he should do some cardio. He should have listened.

"Are you alright!" shouted Tsubasa as he reached the figure. In the glow of the headlights he made out a woman in dirty white robes and old traditional sandals, of around Kenta's age. She was very beautiful, with the curves of an American Playboy model. Her green hair was long and messy, straggling down her back like a mountain trail. Tsubasa saw dry tear stains upon her face as she began breathing faintly. Tsubasa cradled the woman.

"Are you okay? Speak to me! Come on!" The woman's eyes opened a little, revealing red and black, as opposed to Tsubasa's green. She was pale, ashen-faced, and very light in Tsubasa's arms, as if she had neither eaten nor drank in several days. The woman's lips twitched, as if to speak.

"Stay...away...from..." The woman fainted and Tsubasa's heart quickened.

"Kenta! This woman needs help!" Kenta finally arrived, winded. He looked her over, wheezing from the mad dash.

"We need to get to a hospital then," he said. "She looks very weak." He helped his brother lift the woman and carry her to the car. They placed her in the back seat, Tsubasa climbing in with her.

"What do we do?" said Tsubasa, starting to panic.

"Find the nearest hospital that's what" replied Kenta, his tone hard with a determination he had not felt since Miho left him. He slammed his foot on the gas, and the car sped down the road.

"What if it's too far?" he thought desperately. "We may never make it in time!"

But as if to answer a prayer sent from heaven, a road sign appeared and Kenta smirked.

"Alright! Don't you worry miss! Just stay strong! We'll make it!" The car zoomed past the road sign.

_Sotoba Village, 15 km_

Silence was killing the two boys on their way to this Sotoba Village. Even though Tsubasa was in the back, holding the strange girl's hand, Kenta couldn't keep his eyes from the rear-view mirror. Something about her just…

Tsubasa's eyes widened as the girl came to. Broken grumbles slipped out of the girl's mouth, a pained look on her face.

"Kenta!"

"What?"

"She's awake, but she must be feeling something." The elder brother nodded as he looked in the mirror.

"I understand,"

Inertia pressed Tsubasa against the back seat as the car accelerated. All was silent again, until they were only 5 kilometres away from Sotoba.

"Do you hear that too?" the younger male asked. Kenta felt the urge to snap, the stress eroding his self-control. Then he thought of the woman behind him, and decided to slow down. He glanced through the right-hand window.

And his face went pale.

"Look at that!" Kenta exclaimed. Tsubasa looked to see.

Beside the road was a field, in which several tractors were parked in a circle, headlights shining inward. There were people clustered around, and more hurrying from the village.

From within the circle there came a terrible scream, the cry of a young girl in intolerable pain. The brothers watched, appalled at how the villagers stood around, some of them cheering at the unseen girl's suffering.

A murder was being committed. Kenta gritted his teeth.

"Two in one night, huh? Stay strong there, Tsubasa"

"How do you plan on coming there in to-ack!"

Tsubasa jolted as the car suddenly accelerated. Kenta turned onto the field, bumping and bouncing across it, startling the assembled citizens from their gruesome entertainment. Kenta's face bore a dark and determined grimace.

"You stay here, watch the girl!" he ordered, before climbing out and going to the trunk. From it he took something that Tsubasa couldn't see, then strode to the circle of tractors.

"Oi,you!" he shouted at the nearest tractor, under the wheel of which the girl's arm was trapped. "Let go of her right now!" The men around the tractor looked up at their unexpected challenger. They were clad in religious garb, armed with wooden stakes, hammers, bladed hoes, and shovels. The driver did not let go of the wheel.

Tsubasa climbed quickly out, his eyes widening as he saw what his older brother was carrying.

A hunting rifle.

"Why isn't that rifle in the locker back home? Why'd you bring that thing along on our holiday?"

"I forgot to put it back! Be glad I did!"

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes in disbelief. How could his brother be so stupid to do such a thing? But at least he was using it for a decent reason.

"Now do what I said or I'll shoot! Let go of the girl!" he yelled even harder at the man on the tractor, aiming his rifle.

"Don't listen to him! He's with those monsters!" bellowed one of the villagers. The man leapt onto a nearby tractor.

Kenta fired, the shot plucking him from the tractor's frame and dropping to the ground. Before anyone he could react he fired again, his second target the driver he had challenged a moment earlier. The driver fell off and thumped to the ground, screaming in pain.

Kenta glared at the remaining villagers, who regarded him with bewildered horror.

"Last warning. I _will_ shoot!" he snarled.

For the first time Kenta felt anger, an emotion uncommon to him, boiling up inside him. The men stayed back, afraid of the man with the rifle. They stood back as Kenta hurried over to the tractor, reversing it off the pink-haired girl.

The screaming finally stopped, and when Kenta finally reached her, he saw the tearstains on her cheeks. His heart pounded in his throat as he levelled his rifle, pointing it from one farmer to the next. They were clearly wary of him, but there were more of them. Shooting two of the drivers had shown them he had meant business, even if the shots had been non-lethal. But if the situation would get uglier, there were more people there then there were bullets in his rifle.

"Thanks, dad," he whispered to himself. Years ago, his father had taken him out duck hunting several times. It was just him, dad and the quiet water. Good memories. Memories he relived by going out hunting with his friend and coworker, old man Keji from the office, every couple of months. And now, it had given him the means to save the poor girl.

The girl was absolutely terrified. He could see it in her beautiful red and black eyes.

"Please," she pleaded. "Please help me. They've gone mad." The girl literally hid behind him as several of the villagers advanced.

"Sir!" shouted one of the peasants. "You... you don't know what you're doing! She's dangerous!"

"Oh" Kenta narrowed his eyes. "Are you telling me you were _not_ running her over with a tractor?" Just then, one of the villagers stepped a little too close. Kenta aimed his rifle and shot the ground at his feet.

"I mean it! Get back!"

Kenta slowly stepped back, making sure the girl was always out of reach of the villagers. He judged the distance to the car and looked over his shoulder to the girl.

"Get in the car," he told her as gently as possible.

"Sir, you have to listen to us!" another villager tried. To which Kenta answered with a raised rifle.

"One more word and you'll get it!" he snarled, teeth bared. It was enough to shut him up.

"KENTA!" shouted Tsubasa from the car. "Get your ass back here already!"

As the girl rushed over to the front seat of the car, Kenta followed. As he reached the car, he put his rifle next to the seat, slammed the door shut, and put the pedal to the metal. The car rushed forward with screeching tired, making a 180 degree turn onto the road from which they had come.

At that moment, Kenta felt as if he could breathe again.

"Oh, my," he closed his eyes as the adrenalin in his veins started to subside. "That just cost me a year of my life."

The girl in the seat next to him regarded him with some curiosity. The odd and revealing clothes she wore were stained with mud and specks of blood. Her pink hair was in twin tails and, like the green haired woman in the back, she had some amazing curves, to say nothing of a bust so large that the elder brother could not help but glance at it. He also noticed that her arm, over which a tractor had been driven, was entirely uninjured. He was surprised, but guessed the heavy wheel might have pushed it into the muddy ground rather than breaking it.

He was glad. He didn't want the girl to be more hurt than she already was.

And for the first time, he saw how beautiful her eyes were.

"Is this the hospitality of the country folk?" Tsubasa asked. "Because if it is, the tourist brochures were all wrong."

Kenta turned to the girl. "Are you alright?" he asked gently. "Are you hurt?" The girl with the beautiful eyes didn't answer, but simply shook her head. She settled in the seat, wrapped her arms around herself, and closed her eyes.

Kenta didn't blame her. She must have been traumatized by the whole ordeal. Kenta himself wasn't feeling at that stable himself now. He took another deep breath to force himself to calm down.

"Kenta," Tsubasa called from the backseat where he had been taking care of their other guest. "This woman. She's so cold."

"She's probably hypothermic," Kenta said. "There's a blanket beneath the hat rack. Try to warm her up a little."

Kenta heard Tsubasa rummage around in the back of the car. It took him a minute or two to find it, but he finally managed to cover the delirious woman with the blanket.

"You might want to clean up this car more often." Tsubasa bit his lip.

"We still need to get her into a doctor's office as quickly as possible. Take a look at the road map to see how far the next town is for me, will you?"

The girl with the beautiful eyes was quiet for a moment, but suddenly sat forward when she noticed a sign next to the road. His curiosity piqued, Kenta read the sign.

"_You are now leaving Sotoba_" he read aloud.

The girl's demeanor suddenly changed completely. Gone was the fear. Gone was the desperation. The girl with the beautiful eyes cracked a smile. The smile turned into a giggle. The giggle turned into a laugh. Finally, the girl threw her head back and let out a cackle from the depths of her lungs.

The cackle wasn't filled with humor. It was clearly a victory celebration of some sort, with just a hint of malicious rage and a touch of joy. The girl didn't stop cackling for minutes, in fact. Through the read-view mirrors, the brothers shared a look. Kenta was not surprised that Tsubasa was confused and startled by the girl's odd behavior as well.

Kenta concluded that though she may have had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, this girl was also very, very creepy.


	2. Entry 2: Shimizu: Suspicion

**We do not own Shiki. It belongs to Fuyumi Ono, Fuji TV, and Funimation. We do however, own Kenta and Tsubasa Yamamoto.**

"Don't take us to a hospital or the police," The pink haired girl told them with a somewhat dangerous glare in her eyes even though it wasn't really that different from how she was looking at first.

So did she take the painful silence away. Kenta's eyes looked confused, so was Tsubasa, staring at her from the back seat together with the still quiet remaining, green haired girl.

"What do you mean?" Tsubasa asked carefully, coming slightly closer to the front seats.

"Don't take us anywhere except for an hotel," The strange girl demanded a little clearer. The girl turned her head to both guys.

"We can care for ourselves"

Tsubasa looked puzzled, leave this woman in pain on her own? That's definitely against his morals.

"You're kidding me," nervousness almost killed him.

"So you wish for us to take you to a hotel without a notice to the police or treatment at a hospital while you got almost killed. Not to mention your painful screams and begging's? Who are you anyway?" Kenta asked. Tsubasa noticed in his voice he was marking this girl as ''untrustworthy'' in his mind. Too bad, even though this girl was completely going mad it is better having his brother with her instead of him going on his knees for Miho. Kenta asking to pick him over an old pervert, it's unbelievable that it could happen.

The busty girl with the bright pink hair glanced out of the window, the reflection of her face looked completely calm as Tsubasa gives it a single glance. Just what is this girl thinking about anyway?

"My name is Shimizu Megumi, the woman next to the little brat Kunihiro Ritsuko," Her voice didn't contain any emotion, as if she didn't care if they knew who they were or not. The girl, called Megumi lifts her arm and curls with her fingers through her soft looking hair. The younger brother narrowed his eyes when she, actually, had insulted him with such ease. It made him almost lose control, _almost. _It was clear enough that this Shimizu Megumi wouldn't change her attitude even though she got just saved from tractors by them. She sure is a unique one.

"We both have an Ultraviolet sickness called Systemic lupus erythematosus and we can't go out during daylight, perhaps you're familiar with the consequences. Skin irritation, joint pains, nausea, that sort of thing. We know how to help ourselves, so let us deal with it without going to a hospital," The explanation cleared a few things for Tsubasa but the frown on Kenta's face is telling that he still doubt it.

"Just let them go to a hotel, Kenta," he decided.

"Hn," That means he finally approved going to a hotel instead of a hospital.

"My name is Matsumoto Tsubasa and this is my older brother Kenta, nice to meet you," Tsubasa added to the introduction from the girl to not to be rude.

The girls were brought to a hotel and the boys decided to have some time together.

''Don't you dare to leave without us knowing, okay! We're heading to sleep now'' Kenta told the girl named Megumi since she was the only one awake. The wounds of the green haired woman have disappeared and only the bloodstains remains.

''Yeah, yeah. Just go. See you 'round'' the girl had answered, showing him nothing but her back. That was also the last thing he could see before closing the door; The back of a girl with a tender looking skin.

Megumi was no fool. She knew she had been very, very lucky. If these boys hadn't turned up when they did and if this Kenta hadn't risked his life to safe her, she would have been dead.

But because Megumi was no fool, she was cautious. They seemed kind enough for now, but she had no idea what would happen if they discovered what she was. For all she knew they might kindly drive a stake through her heart. That was the reason she had locked both herself and Ritsuko in their own rooms. She had to think. Her first order of business was to find out more about her rescuers.

She carefully slipped out of her hotel room after an hour or so and made her way to the room belonging to the boys, conveniently located on the opposite side of the hallways. The hotel itself was quiet and dimly lit, allowing her to move with relative ease. She pressed herself against the wall next to the day and listened. Her enhanced vampiric senses picked up the breathing of two persons. One was sleeping. The other was moving about. She listened some more and suddenly the one moving stopped. Megumi heard the tell-tale signs of someone dialing a telephone. Now was her chance.

As expected, the boys had not yet locked the door. She opened the door slightly and peeked through, seeing Kenta's back as he talked on the phone. And to make things even easier for her, his coat was hanging right next to the door. With a sly grin, she fetched his wallet from his inner pocket. _'Well, let's see who you are, Matsumoto-san_,' she flipped through the wallet and found a driver's license.

She gasped.

Nagasaki!

These weren't simple country bumpkins! There were real men from the big city! Megumi couldn't believe her luck. Immediately, her estimation of her two rescuers increased with leaps and bounds.

She closed her eyes. _'Think, Megumi! THINK! You can't let a chance like this slip through your fingers_.'

Megumi quickly replaced the wallet and felt around in the coat for other things. She bit her lip when she lifted Kenta's car keys from the coat.

_'You aren't going anywhere, Matsumoto-san_,' she grinned and pocketed the keys. The she-vampire then quietly closed the door and returned to her own room to think of the rest of her plan. All that mattered now was getting to the big city. And the boys were the means to an end. But as she watched Kenta on the phone, she concluded that he was a rather cute means to an end.

For now, it was important to keep her being a Shiki hidden. Oh, she wouldn't be above biting Kenta and forcing him to drive him to Nagasaki and simply taking it from there, but only if it would be absolutely necessary. Megumi realized she and Ritsuko needed a safe food supply. Fortunately, she knew just where to get it.

It didn't take Megumi long to find the hospital after leaving the hotel. She had been in Mizobe many times before with her parents to go shopping for things they couldn't buy in Sotoba, so she was familiar with the town. Though Mizobe was an acceptable step up from Sotoba, it still wasn't the big city. And she needed to get to the big city.

Megumi stood in front of the entrance of the ER and looked at the sign next to the door. 'Be welcome all in need of aid,' it read. Megumi shook her head. Sometimes humans made it so easy for her.

When she had first become a Shiki, she had been taught important hunting skills. Sneaking. Scoping. Stalking. Stealth. But also Acting as well. Megumi entered the ER and found relatively few people there. She approached the counter where some nurses were sitting and hunched over, her face twisted in a grimace of pain.

"Please!" Megumi gasped. "Please help me! My tummy. My tummy hurts so much!"

Immediately, the head nurse, a kindly elderly lady, rushed up to her and supported her weight. "Oh, you poor thing," she said as she started dragging Megumi to a side room.

"My tummy," she sniffed, finding that turning on the waterworks always helped. "I feel like I'm going to explode!"

The head nurse helped her get on a stretcher, where Megumi lay sobbing in a fetal position. She then told her she was going to get the doctor to look at her, and turned her back on Megumi.

The head nurse never knew what had hit her. She ended up sitting on the floor with a glazed-over expression while Megumi took her white overcoat, her access card and all the information she needed.

"Thought I was harmless, did you?" Megumi smirked at the head nurse before stepping out of the side room. Now that she had fed, she already felt stronger. From the enthralled nurse, she had learned the blood was stored on the third floor, through the overnight ward.

Now, this wasn't the Ozaki clinic. Unlike there, this hospital was staffed and busy around the clock. That is why Megumi had taken the white coat, as her normal clothes would make her stand out too much. Wearing the white coat meant she could pass for a nurse from a distance. Megumi quickened her pace and used the access card to unlock the personnel service elevator to the third floor, taking the shortest route the head nurse had suggested.

It was delightfully easy to navigate the hospital, as the night staff was smaller than the day staff and most patients were sleeping. Ever so often, she had to avoid a patrol of doctors or nurses and did so by ducking into a room and waiting for them to pass.

She was halfway through the overnight ward when she had to duck into yet another room. Unfortunately, the group of nurses she was dodging had stopped to chat just outside the room and Megumi had no chance to escape without being noticed. In other words, she was forced to wait.

Megumi impatiently tapped her foot. She was on the clock, after all, as it was quite late in the night. It would be morning soon. She started pacing. And only then saw whose room this was. Her red eyes widened.

"Kaori," Megumi blinked as she saw the sleeping girl on the bed. It was odd, really. Though she had tormented the girl who had once been one of her best friends, part of Megumi was pleased to see that Kaori had survived Sotoba. Even happy on some level. She looked so peaceful... and Megumi wondered if she herself looked so peaceful and innocent when she slept during the day. She instinctively caressed the girls cheek.

Outside, the group of nurses had passed and Megumi was about to leave. But just as she wanted to do so, something made her turn around to look at Kaori one more time. Megumi stood still for a moment, then gently removed the necklace she was wearing. She gently put the necklace in Kaori's hand, being careful not to wake her. It was a risk. If Kaori somehow figured out that Megumi was still alive, it could be dangerous, after all. Megumi didn't quite knew why she did it, she just felt that she had to.

Just as she was about to slip out, she heard someone approach.

"Nee-san?" she heard from outside the door. "Are you still sleeping?"

Akira!

Curse her stupidity! Curse her foolish sentimentality!

Megumi was tense, but had to be merciless. As soon as the boy would enter the room, she would yank him into the closet and sink her teeth in him. There was no other way. Megumi extended her fangs and prepared to pounce. The whites of her eyes turned black and her irises red.

Akira patted his pockets and cursed under his breath. Having apparently forgotten something, Akira walked off again.

Megumi closed her eyes and sighed in relief, muttered a quick goodbye to her once-friend, and quickly slipped out. Finding the blood storage was relatively easy from there on. Using the head nurse's access card, she opened the door to the room. She quickly fetched a medical satchel and filled it with all the blood bags she could carry. Refridgerated blood wasn't as good as fresh from the body, but it would do. The blood room had a window and thanks to her vampiric strength, she jumped down with ease. And after dumping the coat and the card in a dumpster, rushed back to the hotel. The sun would rise soon.

After getting back to the hotel, Megumi already felt an unnatural fatigue starting to sap at her will to stay awake. There was one more task she had to accomplish, though. Megumi went back to her room, emptied the mini-bar and threw the satchel into the fridge. She took out one bag, though, and headed over to Ritsuko's room. There, she looked at the severaly weakened sleeping woman, who stirred in her sleep.

"To-hru…." she muttered weakly in her painful slumber. The busty pinkette sighed.

Megumi opened the spigot on the blood bag and forced Ritsuko's mouth open. The great majority of the bag's contents found its way into Ritsuko's stomach while she slept. The twintailed girl then sneered at the odd-haired nurse.

"If you ruin this for me," Megumi whispered to the sleeping woman. "I swear to god, I will stake you myself."

The busty pinkette then closed the drapes and got under the covers and let slumber take her.

_The next day…_

"I'm telling you, this doesn't add up at all," Kenta sighed as he and his brothers were having coffee at a roadside cafe, out of earshot of any of the other patrons. He was feeling tired. In fact, he was feeling extremely tired, which was no surprise considering all that had happened. All in all, he had been up for almost twenty-four hours.

"Shizumu-san. Don't you think it's rather strange that a girl who's almost been killed by a mob or religious fanatics doesn't want to run screaming to the police to tell what has happened? What about her family? She must have family right? Doesn't she want them to know she's okay? And she practically bit my head off when I suggested we still needed to get Kunihiro-san to a doctor. All because of some sort of mystery disease they both have?"

Tsubasa let out a very deep sigh. "You think to much, aniki. Maybe she's just scared. I know I'd be scared. And maybe it was her family that tried to kill her in the first place."

"Why would her own family try to kill her?" Kenta brought the cup to his mouth and sipped the murky brown liquid. Finding its taste ever worse than what came out of the office coffee machine, he quickly put it down again.

"Pfft," Tsubasa snorted. "Maybe they attacked her because she was different? You know, because she can only go out at night? That's how superstitious country folk can be."

"If that's the case, that it's even more horrible," Kenta nodded.

"Hasn't she gone through enough without you accusing her of anything?" Tsubasa replied.

"I know. But... there's other things. For one thing, my car keys are missing."

Tsubasa muttered something under his breath again. "Kenta, you're always losing stuff."

"This is different. Shizumu-san took them," Kenta spoke with certaintly.

Just about as Tsubasa was about to sputter an angry retort to this accusation, Kenta held up his hand and interrupted the coming tirade.

"You are right, I'm always losing my keys. That's why I put a clapper on my keychain, remember? I clap my hands a couple of times and it beeps."

"Yeah?" Tsubasa raised an eyebrow, apparently not following his train of thought. "So?"

"I was clapping around the hotel to try to find the keys and I faintly heard a beep after some attempts," he looked Tsubasa in the eye. "It was coming from Shimuzu-san's room, behind the locked door."

"So?" Tsubasa shrugged. "You could have lost them in her room."

"I could have, yes," Kenta nodded. "Except for the fact that I never went inside Shimuzu-san's room at all?"

"Huh," Tsubasa scratched his head. "Well, maybe she's just scared we're going to leave during the day. Just proves she doesn't know us very well, hm? Not yet anyway."

Kenta rubbed his temples. "Well, I think our vacation is now officially over. We should probably head back to Nagasaki soon."

Suddenly, Tsubasa's eyes positively lit up. Kenta knew that look - his brothers thoughts were in a happy place. And when he finally figured out what his brother was thinking, he shook his head in disbelief.

"No. No. NO!" he slammed his fist on the table. "We are _not_ taking them home with us!"

"Why not!" Tsubasa wailed, attracting some attention from people sitting on other tables. The boys were quiet for a moment, waiting for their unwanted attention to vanish.

"Why not?" Tsubasa asked again. "They're both so cute and innocent. And you need to live a little, aniki. At least they are better than Miho. Everybody's better than Miho. Even drain cleaner is better than Miho! We have saved them," he nodded vigorously. "And now we have the obligation to take care of them. Our house is big enough for four people."

"Don't be daft!" Kenta narrowed his eyes. Tsubasa was getting ahead of himself and it was his responsiblity as the adult to reign him in. "They must have family to take care of them. And if they don't, the state will see to their care."

Tsubasa shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe you! I mean, we're big god damn heroes! And girls love big god damn heroes!"

Kenta felt anger welling up inside him and forced himself to remain calm. "Will you keep it in your pants for just a moment and think straight? I need to turn myself in to the police, Tsubasa."

"What?" he blinked. "Why?"

"Because I _shot_ people, Tsubasa!" he replied. "Don't you get it?"

"But they were bad people! And you shot them in self-defense," Tsubasa spat angrily.

"Which will have to be determined by an official police investigation," Kenta nodded. "And, I know it was self-defense. I know I had to do it to save Shimuzu-san. But do you really think that will help me sleep at night?"

"They were bad people," Tsubasa said again.

Kenta leant back a little. How to reply? "Things aren't always black and white. I need to know what happened in Sotoba, but there was nothing in the papers yet. I wondered if there was something on the news so I tried to call old man Keji at the office, but he wasn't in yet."

"You did what you had to do. Done. Now let's go home and take care of those girls," Tsubasa offered again.

"This isn't going to go away just because you don't want to hear it," Kenta replied. He didn't like it, but now had to put his foot down and be forceful with his brother.

"This evening, we will bring Kunihiro-san to the hospital like we should have done yesterday. And after that, we will go to the police and we will tell them the whole story whether Shizumu-san likes it or not!"

Tsubasa almost exploded with anger. He sputtered and stammered looking for the right words. Finally, he just got up from his seat and started to walk away.

"Tsubasa," Kenta sighed and shook his head.

"You know what?" he shouted back. "DROP DEAD!"

And after that he stomped off into town, leaving Kenta to shake his head and lament what had just happened. These days, he and Tsubasa had been having more conflicts, but it hardly ended in a blow-out like this. But it had to be done. This was the only right way. His tired mind drifted back to Sotoba, to that night when they had rescued Shizumu-san.

He remembered the mind blowing image of that poor girl trapped underneath a tractor, screaming for help. Horrible. Dispicable.

But he also remembered the faces of the people he shot. In the end, they were normal men like himself. Kenta wondered if they had families. Children. And he hoped that, despite everything, they were alright.

He had flagged a waitress earlier and she arrived with his order. A cup and a bottle of sake.

"Pardon me," he smiled when the waitress pour him a drink. "Could you please leave the bottle?"

Right now, he had sorrows he needed to soothe. Sake was always good for that.

Tsubasa stormed down the street hands in pocket as a scowl as planted on his face.

"Stupid Kenta. Can't he see that she was trying to get away from those _monsters _and aim for freedom," he snarled underneath his breath. Thankfully the hotel was close to the hospital and to the coffee shop, which meant a short and easy walk for the track and field runner. He stared up at the hospital and saw a newspaper stand nearby. He walked towards it and submitted some yen coins to receive a newspaper. He opened the box and got out the article. On it's front page with a warzone of town…

**Massive Fire and Massacre in Sotoba Village. Over 600 dead.**

**Last night, Mizobe authorities came to Sotoba in order to see what is causing all of the ruckus due to the fire. When they arrived, one officer Takagi Takeshi said "You smelled death and blood everywhere. And this was AFTER the fire. Made me sick to my stomach" After the fire has passed, authorities searched the village for any survivors. Instead, they found hundreds of corpses in seperate pits near the town shrine. Upon further inspection, the victims were murdered heinously and without remorse, even in post mortem. Invetigators found the murder weapons sprawled across the entire town(all with different and numerous prints), which investigators and authorities are speculating that over a few hundred people were in a cult which murdered people of all ages, gender, or creed, as numerous bloodstains were evident upon a form of religous dress known as "Mushi-Okuri".**

**In addition, the work of bombs seems to be at work as well. At the western edge of Sotoba, near the place of origin of the fire, investigators found a blast site deep inside a pit with several dozen bodies found, which could mean that the cult had people profficient in creating explosives. "This is worse than the Oklahoma City bombing in America back in 95'" said sheriff Ken Bak. "I mean, all of these people were murdered and we have no way to find the suspects, who could apart of a terrorist ring much similar to the Al Qaeda in the Middle East".**

**The American's FBI and CIA and Interpol agencies from Europe would be assisting the Japanese government in hunting down the ones responsible for causing this great calamity in our country. And-**

Tsubasa smirked. With this, he could silence Kenta's "worries" and now he has evidence. Even the media is supporting him, now that Megumi was hunted by some domestic terrorist cult.

"Don't worry Shimizu-san. I got your back" as he walked off, he did not notice a girl with flower pigtails in a hospital gown staring at him oddly as he wrapped the paper up and walked back to the hotel room.

When he returned to the hotel room and walked in and sat on the bed. He could not help but feel sorry for Ritsuko and Megumi. Both two beautiful young women, who were hunted down like animals all so that some religous terrorist group would get their kicks. But now he has reason to show to his brother why Megumi is doing what she is doing, maybe now his sympathetic bone would resound more. He decided to turn on the TV, to which it to was covering the Sotoba fire and massacre. Tsubasa still could not fathom why people would do such a horrible thing. But then again, his brother stood up to _terrorists_ and stared them down and saved Megumi. They are friggin heroes!

_That evening…_

Kenta was close to nodding off again when he finally heard some moving around behind the locked door in front him. He checked it watch and learned he'd been sitting her on a wooden chair in the hotel corridor for about an hour waiting for the girl to come out. He waited for the lock to snick open and then laid eyes upon the girl with the beautiful eyes again, looking just as lovely and sweet as she had yesterday. Her deep pink colored hair was still tied in two bunches, her busom large and perky, and her clothes were still flamboyant. The girl seemed momentarily startled to find Kenta sitting outside her room.

"Good morning," Kenta announced. "Or, rather, good evening, Shimizu-san."

"Matsumoto-san," she nodded. "Did come to check up on me?"

"I couldn't sleep much," Kenta replied. "Tsubasa is still in his room. He was rather tired. We... had a bit of an argument today so I thought I'd give him some space."

"Anything serious?" the girl, whose name he learned was Megumi, cocked her head sideways. She was a curious person, that much was obvious.

"Let's just say I broke a promise and leave it at that," he shook his head.

'A bit of an argument' was a massive understatement. When Tsubasa had found him back at the cafe with a bottle of sake, he had exploded. The younger boy had gone on a massive tirade about broken promises and self-control. And, to top it off, Tsubasa had made use of the situation to proclaim himself to be Kenta's moral superior and bluntly told him that taking the girls home with them was now his decision to make.

The last word about that had not been spoken, of course, but it was so typical of his younger brother to exploit Kenta so that a situation would turn out in his favor. He was a sly one that way.

"Ooooh," Megumi suddenly closed her eyes and shook her head. "My clothes are a mess! Look at me! I'm all covered with mud and grime. You must think I am such a messy person."

Kenta couldn't help but laugh. He was happy to see that, despite everything which had happened to her, she was now worried about her looks. It was a good sign and meant she wasn't suffering too much from post-traumatic stress.

He could tell from her sudden change in expression that Megumi was somewhat offended that Kenta had laughed. He quickly held up his hands. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that, with all that happened, your clothes seem sort of like a minor issue."

Megumi held up one finger in an admonishing fashion. "Taking good care of your appearance and making sure you are always wearing the latest fashion is the most important thing in a girl's life! But you're man, I don't expect you to understand that."

Kenta chuckled for a moment. "You're right," he said, somewhat more bitterly than he intended. "Most of the time, I don't understand girls at all."

Megumi seemed to have forgiven his transgression. He was glad for it.

"I have to admit, I had a bit of an ulterior motive to wait outside your room as well," Kenta said. Kenta said nothing more, but clapped his hands. Beeping came from inside the room, making Megumi look at Kenta quizically. "You have my car keys," he said with a smile.

"Oh?" Megumi frowned. "OH!"

Rather embarrassed that she had been discovered, Megumi shuffled her feet. "Uh, I, uh, didn't mean to steal them, it's just that. Well..."

"No need to be embarrassed," Kenta nodded. "Let me guess, you were too afraid to be alone, but also too afraid to be among people right now."

Megumi looked away. "Something like that," she whispered.

"Oh," Kenta said. "There's something I want to show you. You might want to sit down for this." He handed her the local newspaper from his morning, which she took. Megumi's eyes darted over the page, back to Kenta and then to the page.

"Sotoba?" she asked. "Burned?"

"I'm sorry," Kenta spoke. "I've just watched the news. Half the country is in uproar over this tragedy and the police are combing what's left of the village. They're bringing in foreign aid to help the investigation and identify all the bodies. Interpol, FBI..."

"Don't be sorry," Megumi's expression darkened considerably. "It was an awful place filled with moronic sheep. I'm glad it burned down! I'm glad it's been destroyed! I'm glad that they're all dead!"

Surprised by the hard edge and malice in her voice, Kenta watched as Megumi tossed the paper into a nearby waste basket and strolled over to the window, keeping her back turned to him. Megumi lay her hands on the windowsill and looked outside into the night. Her eyes narrowed when she thought back on the memory.

"They came with axes. They came with torches. The night was filled with blood."

"The cult?"

"Yes," Megumi replied. "The cult. It was led by the local head doctor, Ozaki Toshio. The victims were picked completely random. It all started when they brutally murdered Kirishiki-san during the Kagura festival. After that... it was just a massacre. Nobody was safe. I managed to get away from the killings as much as I could. A stubborn enough person can survive anything, you see? Rage and desperation are one hell of an anaesthetic."

Kenta wasn't sure what he could say to cheer up Megumi. Perhaps he shouldn't even try.

"And now the village is dead," Megumi said. "My parents. Yuuki-kun. All gone."

He noticed that was sadness in her voice. Moreso when she mentioned this Yuuki-kun than when she had mentioned her parents. "Was he your boyfriend?"

A laugh came from Megumi, full of bitterness and self-pity. "If only," she said, still keeping her back turned to him.

Kenta wanted to comfort Megumi by placing his hands on her shoulders, just to say that she wasn't alone. But he changed his mind at the last moment. He had only known her for a couple of hours and his gesture, though meant as a kindness, could be misconstrued.

Still, Kenta knew a mood-changer when he heard one and started to change the subject. "The police might be interested to learn what you know. You are a surviving witness, after all." Megumi shook her head.

"I don't trust the police. At Sotoba, the police were in on it all too."

"I understand," he nodded. There were plenty of investigators out there anyway, and he had a feeling it wouldn't take long before a lot of Sotoba's dirty laundry would be aired.

"Do you have any family outside Sotoba we can contact?"

"There's nobody," Megumi said and finally, turned around. She was smiling brightly this time. "But that's okay. Because even though I'm all alone and don't know where to go, for the first time in my life I'm completely free. There's a world out there to explore! And I want to see it all!"

"Sounds good," he nodded. "Now, shall we check on your friend?"

Kenta was confused by Megumi's constant mood changes, but he had to admit her current cheerfulness was infectious. As they slowly walked towards the bathroom where Ritsuko was finishing her shower, Megumi darted, hummed and danced around him, looking spritely and alive as if she was playing some sort of faraway fantasy in her head.

"Hey, Matsumoto-san?" Megumi suddenly stopped dancing. "You may call me Megumi-chan if you like. And I shall call you Kenta-kun?"

Kenta smiled briefly. "That's fine. Megumi-chan."

Kenta knocked on the door before unlocking it. "Kunihiro-san? Are you descent?"

There was no answer. Megumi and Kenta shared a look. He swiftly unlocked the door and entered. What he saw wasn't encouraging. Kunihiro-san was sitting huddled in a corner, trembling and sobbing. He could also see that the mirror in the bathroom room had been smashed to pieces.

"Oh dear," he gasped, realizing that Kunihiro-san was not dealing with the whole ordeal as well as Megumi was.

Megumi who stood behind him said nothing. But if Kenta had turned his head to look at her, he would have seen Megumi's blackened eyes, staring at the pathetic creature huddling in the corner with utter disgust.


	3. Entry 3: Kunihiro: Regret

**We do not own Shiki. It belongs to Fuyumi Ono, Fuji TV, and Funimation. We do own the Matsumoto brothers. And Neon Genesis Evangelion belongs to GAINAX.**

**Nor do we own Nagasaki, it belongs in Japan.**

_'Here,'_

_'Eh?'_

_The green haired woman stared blankly and the bag in front of her, filled with the red coloured liquid called ''blood''. Not aware of the meaning or knowing how he even got it, she slowly looked at him in the eye. She could see a determination reflected in it what she rarely saw him have especially after her death and her struggles to restrain herself of drinking blood. But it wasn't only determination what she saw, his doubts and fears are still visible._

_'What's the meaning of this? Tohru...' she spoke softly, it was a miracle she could think and speak clearly enough to make people understand her. Or at least, persons._

_'Run,' Ritsuko gasped at that single word, accepting the bloodbag without thinking about it._

_'Run and stay alive for my sake,' He whined slightly through his words, she knew how he feared death, no matter how he would die. They both weren't at any state to escape from this hell on their own, the screamings on the surface; Even though they couldn't see it they just knew what was happening to the others._

_'But -'_

_' - We can't escape together and I... I don't even deserve living any longer anyway,' Tohru stated as he looked down to his own, trembling hands._

_'B-because I did some terrible things... To Natsuno... and to others,' He began to cry and Ristuko couldn't help but feel sympathie for him, she did what he couldn't. Then did her blurry mind finally cleared one thing up; She has to leave now. The look in her eye became serious as she nodded._

_'I will,'_

_She turned around and made her leave, keeping in mind that she will live on and never forget what he has done for her. In the village itself, it wasn't only fighting and killing. She was lucky most of the Shiki's on this side already died so the human Villagers carried on the other side of Sotoba already. Though, she still had to be carefull. When she finally made her escape from the Village, the battle only began now. She was short on rest and blood, if she can't rest before the sun rises, she'll be doomed. She tried to lift up the bloodbag what she is holdng as if her lives depended on it and brings it to her mouth. Drinking with ease isn't really the thing she could do now, she was escaping from murder after all and also fighting against time. She drank as much as she could and doesn't care about the falling blood anymore. When the bloodbag is empty she just threw it aside, struggling and crawling to come forwards._

_'It's no use,' she whispered to herself. Her voice; Broken, just like her. Just like her soul, scattered by the unneeded violence. Like her appearance, ruined by the ''thing''' she became. The blood she drank from the bloodbag wasn't enough, just like she expected. She didn't drank even a drop blood since she had risen from death. One blood bag wasn't even able to strengthen the half of her power. Her abillity to see broke down too, her sight became blurry and the only thing she could make clear of it was that someone was shouting at her, dashing towards her._

_Tohru? No... He's dead. It didn't matter who it was, whoever it may be; she'll be thankfull to him for the rest of her eternity._

_A harsh jump from the car made Ristuko gain her consciousness again, though her body did still hurt a lot. Megumi-chan? So that's how it is, Megumi-chan did also survive... She knew that from just hearing her harsh, emotionless voice towards the driver. It's not like she didn't understand why, she knew pretty much that Megumi had risen too even though she never visited her. It was Tohru who told her. Tohru... She became aware from the fact she wouldn't see Tohru ever again, he died for her sake while he could live on his own. As if he ever would, that pure guy... He wouldn't bear it._

_'Don't worry,'_

_Ristuko tried to see who was whispering these words to her, seeing a childish face in front of her. So cute... She guessed he was a couple of years younger than Kaori and Akira. The expression on his face, it makes her recall Tohru's... Gosh, she really has to stop herself already. She lost him now, she has to deal with her recent issues now. 'Everything is going to be okay,' the boy whispered once again, without the two in the front seat noticing. She decided to close her eyes for one more time, to sleep a little longer._

With a shrill cry, Ritsuko started awake. Finding herself sitting up in bed, it took her a few moments to catch her bearing. Her memory of the previous nights was a little hazy, ut what she did know was that her hunger was mostly gone. For a moment, she hoped beyond hope that everything which had happened was just a bad dream.

Yes, that's what it is. It was a bad dream. Any moment now, Tohru would walk through the door and crack one of those silly jokes of his. She decided to wait for him a moment. Yes, Tohru would come soon.

But Tohru never came.

And feeling her own dead cold skin and finding no pulse once again thrust her into harsh reality.

For a moment, she wondered why she had dreamed. From what little she knew of her own kind, she had understood that during the day they were simply... corpses. And corpses don't dream. Or did they? There were so many things about her... condition which she simply didn't know anything about. And nobody would be able to tell her now.

Ritsuko slid out of bed, still finding herself wearing her funeral robe. Looking around the room, she quickly deduced it was a hotel room. Immediately, flashes of the previous night came back to her. Megumi. The two boys. And the hunger, oh the terrible maddening hunger. But she felt better now. And wondered why that was.

The answer came when she found an empty bag lying on top of the dresser. She recognized it, for she had seen many before. A blood bag. Someone had fed her. "Megumi-chan," she closed her eyes and fought back tears. The very idea filled with her revulsion. Despite that, she felt somewhat more like herself. The greenhead walked in the bathroom, stripped and stepped into the shower.

As the hot water and shampoo ran down her shapely form, her mind traveled back to the kind patients in which she treated…Tohru whom he held her in such high affection…then her own _disorder_ unlike her becoming a vampire. It was one of the reasons she turned down the marriage offer her ex-boyfriend offered her back in college. She just couldn't let anyone else know. As she finished she wrapped a towel around herself and stepped out. She placed her funeral robes back on after drying.

In the mirror, she found herself staring back at her with eyes that were not her own. Red eyes. The eyes of a predator. For both the living and young.

She gave herself a good hard look. "You are dead," she whispered. "So why are you moving?"

Of course, the mirror image remained silent, only speaking when she did.

"Why are you moving?" she hissed harshly. "You are dead!"

Anger and sadness grabbed hold of her as the whites in her eyes disappeared in darkness and red irises arose. "Why are you moving? YOU ARE DEAD!"

The mirror shattered in pieces after she rammed her balled fist into it. Her added vampiric strength almost caused her to punch straight through the wall. Shocked, she looked at her bloodied mess of a hand. Yet, her body was already healing itself, pushing shards of glass out of the skin, reconnecting the sinew and resetting the bones. It didn't even hurt anymore. Her eyes returned to the black-and-red irises.

"Why is this happening to me? Why god…why?" she wept as she huddled against the wall and sank into a corner.

Ritsuko could only weep. That was all she could do right now. Tohru has given her a second chance, but yet for whatever reason, she could not feel happiness. When she found out that she was still alive, she had broken the mirror in anger and frustration.

He knew he was going to be hunted, he knew he was going to die, but he gave her a second chance, at the expense of his life.

The night when Tohru stayed with her and comforted her, both of them told them dark secrets about each other in their sadness.

Tohru admitted that he had a sliver of attraction for Natsuno Yuuki, he would have been a terrible driver if not for Ritsuko.

And she...she turned down a marriage offer from a college friend and...but the most darkest secret she had told the 18 year old that night...was that she...

Her brooding was cut short as she noticed the bathroom door opening, and turned towards the door, and low and behold, Megumi and one of the men who had saved her was at the door. Megumi had a look of disgust aimed at her before her frown turned upside down to a cheerful smile.

"Ritsu-chan! You're awake! That's awesome! Since you're dressed you are decent afterall!" she beamed as she danced over to the girl and helped her up to her feet.

"Shi-Shimizu-san?" she awkardley said. Why did she look disgusted but yet cheerful?

"You have to meet the guys who saved us! This is Matsumoto Kenta-kun!" she introduced flamboyantly to the tall man, who had short dark hair with green eyes. He had a kind smile on his face.

"It's great to see you are awake Kunihiro-san. I hope you are alright after that whole experience." he said kindly. Ritsuko looked puzzled.

"What experience?" Megumi walked over to the waste basket and got the paper and brought it to the green haired girl. The former nurse began to read the front page and brought her hand to her mouth in shock.

"Oh my! That's what happened to Sotoba!" she said in shock. Megumi nodded.

"This man saved us, but more importantly, his_ cute_ little brother saved _you"_ she pointed a finger at Ritsuko, who paled. The memory of that kind cute boy comforting her in the car rearing it's ugly head.

"Little...brother?" she spoke out. Kenta nodded, albeit with a sad smile.

"Yes. Tsubasa is out right now, probably taking a walk. You wanna go shopping though?" asked the elder brother. Megumi beamed.

"Do I ever! You know how to make a girl happy! Let's go Ritsu-chan! You can't stay in that white get up forever now can't we?" joked the pinkette. Ritsuko looked a bit hesitant.

"Wait-I..." But the busty pinkette pushed her equally busty shiki.

"Let's hit the mall before they close Kenta-kun!" she beamed, as she took Ritsuko's hand and they walked down the hall, Kenta following close behind after closing the door.

"They can't find out" whispered Megumi into Ritsuko's ear. She knew really well what the flamboyant girl was mentioning about.

"Why not?" she whispered back. Megumi's harsh face came into play.

"For one they saved our lives, so we outa show some damn gratitude! Two, who knows what would happen if they found out about us being Shiki. Three, we are finally free! We can do what like for now on with the Matsumoto's now! And four, this is a new and grand opprotunity for us to hook up!" Ritsuko gulped nervously.

"Hook...up?"

"Well yeah! Did you see how hot Kenta-kun is? And although Tsubasa looks a bit young, he doesn't look to bad either, if he's anything like his brother. He looks like one of those _shota_ esque type of characters. You know, like Ikari Shinji from that Neon Genesis Evangelion anime?"

"Shota..." '_Oh please no...'_

But before she could reply, they were already outside the hotel, and at the car.

Mizobe was not a large town, so it hadn't taken them long to get to the shopping center. After parking the car, the three of them rode the escalators into the top floor. Several stores had already closed, but most were still open.

Because Ritsuko had been basically wearing a funeral gown when she had been found, Kenta had given her a pair of pants and a shirt belonging to him. It was several sizes too big, but a belt kept it up. To top it all off, Ritsuko was wearing Kenta's coat, making her somewhat of an awkward spectacle. However, this didn't deter Ritsuko for stopping at a petstore to take a long look at the puppies in the window. Much to the impatient Megumi's chagrin.

It was only when Kenta stopped to look at the storefront of an electronics boutiques that Megumi had had enough.

"Oh, look," Kenta told Ritsuko. "DVD's."

"I hear they're the hot new thing," Ritsuko nodded, trying to make conversation.

"Heh," Kenta shook his head. "I doubt it. Look how expensive they are. And nevermind the players. Who needs DVD when everybody has VHS already? This technology will die out. Mark my words."

Megumi let out a frustrated groan and finally grabbed both Ritsuko and Kenta by the arm. "Come on, slowpokes!" she admonished and pulled the both of them towards the clothing boutiques with the speed of light.

Once inside the boutique, the girls went their own ways to find clothes. Ritsuko was done quickly. She had found a basic pair of pants, two blouses and a coat, possibly the cheapest items in the store. Megumi, however, was a completely different story. The spritely young girl searched through all the racks for the latest and greatest, trying out a myriad of different matching outfits. From the way the store owners were letting him browse, Kenta assumed Megumi was a regular here. Finally, Megumi settled for a low-cut black and red dress with red tights and a pair of spiked black boots.

"I hope I'm not imposing on your kindness," Ritsuko said softly as she checked the price tags.

"Certainly not," Kenta smiled. "You need clothes, after all. And it's not as if I can't afford it. Though, I had to admit I got a little frightened when I saw Megumi-chan try out that two hundred thousand yen fur coat." He looked at Megumi for a moment as she was rummaging around the accessories.

_'She did look awfully cute in it, though_,' he added mentally.

"Kenta-kun!" Megumi rushed up to him holding a black lacy parasol. "I know this parasol isn't something I need, but it would fit this new outfit so perfectly. Can I buy it? Can I? Please, please, pleaaassseee?"

Kenta chuckled. He knew that look. It was exactly the same look his brother used to give him all the time when he wanted a new video game or a new toy when he was younger. And if he was never able to resist his brother, how could he possibly resist the doe-like pleading eyes of a lovely girl? Especially if those eyes were the more beautiful he'd ever seen.

"Oh, alright," Kenta sighed.

"Thank you, thank you!" Megumi raved and practically danced through the store in her new clothes.

"I think she's a happy camper," Kenta laughed as he looked at Ritsuko.

Ritsuko nodded sadly. "At least one of us is," she whispered.

As Ritsuko held onto her bag of clothes, Megumi danced and spun with her new parasol. Kenta had the misfortune of carrying Megumi's bags, but he did not show any ill will or anything of the sort resembling that at all. The trio walked out of the mall and into the parking lot.

"Thank you sooo much Kenta-kun! It's been an eternity since I got some new clothes!" thanked Megumi, smile glued onto her face. Kenta gave an apppriciated smile in return.

"Of course, don't mention it."

"Um...Matusmoto-san?" asked Ritsuko, as she held her bag with both hands in front. The taller man turned towards her. She was tall so he didn't need to look down that much.

"Yes?"

"Well...if we could stop by a bank, I'd be more than happy to pay you back for the clothes you bought for me" said the greenhead.

"Ah, well you don't need to worry about paying me back now. I got my paycheck recently from my own job so you don't need to worry about that yet. What job did you have? You look to be out of University like me. Where's your alum at?"

"I went to Kyushu Uni. in Fukouka. class of '95"

"I went to Tokyo, class of '93" Ritsuko and Megumi's eyes went up.

"You got into Tokyo! That's amazing Kenta-kun! That's like...every parents dream for their kid to go there! They must have been proud of ya huh?" beamed Megumi. Kenta wasn't as thrilled.

"Speaking of, where are your parents at anyway? Back at Nagasaki?" asked Ritusko. Kenta gave a sad sigh.

"My parents died in a car crash in '89...Tsubasa was 5, and I was only 17..." answered Kenta sadly. Ritsuko brought her hand to her face in shock.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry I didn't know!" said Ritsuko in sadness. Megumi also felt sympathy for the man. The thought of losing her parents, as much as she considered them _uncool_ and _not hip_, they still loved her, as she did them. In fact, that was the whole reason she didn't attack them back in Sotoba. She gave the facade of not wanting them to rise back up, and with the risk of her mom and dad not rising up just wasn't worth the risk. Thankfully, no one attacked them, and she hoped for their safety even in this turbulent time in the country due to Ozaki's madness.

"That must suck...I'm sorry I brought it up" apologized the busty pinkette. Kenta still gave the girls that same smile.

"It's alright, you didn't know. But word of warning, don't bring it up around Tsubasa...he's very touchy about that...he was always a momma's boy" said Kenta as the group reached the car and got inside. Megumi opted for the backseat to make sure her dress doesn't get too clumped, and Ritsuko opted for shotgun.

"My dad went on hunting trips a lot, and he took me along with one of my co-workers and old family friend, Keji-owaji. I usually was with dad the most, I think it may have been due to my jealousy of Tsubasa being born and getting mom's attention. In fact she even didn't care that I scored 100 on an English test because she was too busy changing his diapers even!" joked Kenta as he started the car and began to drive out.

"Well that sucks. How did you feel about that?" asked Megumi.

"Well now I understood because it was Tsubasa's turn to receive love, and it was just a test, albeit an important one that got me into high school. Back then...not so much. There was sort of a divide between me and mom for a while, until her death that is, in which I forgave her".

"How did you take care of Tsubasa? I mean you were only 17 and he was only 5. He could have wounded up in an orphanage or a group home" asked Ritsuko.

"That is were Keiji came in. He quitted his retirement so that he may watch over us while I went to school. He even promised to take care of Tsubasa while I went to Tokyo U. After I got my degree in Business and Nursing, I got hired by the government to run a blood bank, which pays over 9 million yen a year thankfully. It allowed me to pay for Tsubasa's schooling, continue the mortgage on our parents house, and live the dream."

"Wow...9 million yen! That's a lot of zeros!" chirped Megumi. She _had_ to stay with this Kenta now. Heck, the money, the looks, the kindness, the...

She shook her head when thoughts of a purple haired boy in a school uniform waiting at the Sotoba bus stop assaulted her mind, stopping her train of thought. Kenta chuckled.

"Well yes, but I heard a lot of people in America are doing well right now with Clinton as President, so I'm just a middle-class citizen, no one special" Ritsuko nodded.

"That's so great Matsumoto-san, I'm so happy for you and your little brother" said the greenhead with a smile on her face. She could not help but admire the man across from her. He had overcome such adversity and became a better person in addition to taking care of her little brother. Kenta chuckled.

"Thank you. Speaking of Tsubasa, want to know what I found the other day before we left for vacation?" asked Kenta. Megumi was intrigued as was Ritsuko but more subtler.

"Ooo, Gossip. What did you find?" the car came to a red light.

"I found some hentai doujins underneath his bed sheets. Very nicely detailed ones I might add" chuckled the elder brother.

"Oh the lil pervert. What was the subject theme?" asked Megumi.

"It either involved taller girls with shotacon, heavily endowed women, or..." Ritsuko bit her tongue a bit. Already the younger brother had the same taste of hentai doujins she had back in high school and college...please let it not be-

"Mothers. He sort of has a taste in mother-son incest..." sadly said Kenta.

_'Oh no'_ thought the busty greenhead. This boy had the _exact same_ tastes in hentai as she did...add onto how he has interacted with her so far...with her _condition_…Ritsuko unconciously shifted and rubbed her legs against one another.

A few moments later, Kenta parked the car in front of the hotel. Just as they were getting out, Kenta was surprised by Tsubasa who stormed out of the front entrance and stepped towards them with determination.

"Aniki!" he shouted. "They are coming home with us!"

Kenta blinked while Ritsuko and Megumi blinked in surprise. "Well," Kenta crossed his arms. "Good evening to you too, Tsubasa-kun."

"Aniki wanted to give you to the police!" he turned to the girls. "So they can find your families. But I think we're responsible for you now! I think we both need to take care of you. Our house is big enough and..."

"Uhm." Ritsuko smiled gently. "Considering the circumstances, Kenta wanting to go to the police is not a strange concept."

"Tsubasa," Kenta sighed. "If you could just stop embarrassing yourself for a moment, I can tell you've already decided both Ritsuko-san and Megumi-san can stay at our place for the time being." He turned to the girls. "Should you want to, of course. At least until we've found other arrangements."

Tsubasa blinked. "That's good!" he nodded. "It's good that you listened to me. That you thought my idea was good."

"Uh-huh," Kenta smirked. "In the meantime, I think we should stay at the hotel for another night. I know you girls can only go out during night time, but I'm not really feeling up to driving home just yet."

Megumi seemed very disappointed. "Aw," she pleaded. "But... I want to see Nagasaki so badly! And... It... It's just the big city, okay? I really want to go!"

Kenta scratched the back of his head. "Well, Nagasaki isn't going anywhere, and I don't want to drive when I'm exhausted. That's... what did in my parents. My dad knew he was too tired to drive, and he did it anyway. It's not a mistake I'm willing to repeat. It'd be a shame to have been rescued from an insane mob, only to die from crashing into a tree a couple of days later."

"Oh," Megumi gave Kenta the saddest pout she could muster. "That makes sense. I guess. I suppose I can wait another day."

"I know," Ritsuko piped up. "I could drive. I have a license and I'm not tired at all. All I need to do is to follow the road signs and wake you when we get there."

"Ah!" Megumi lit up. "That's a wonderful idea! We could be in the big city this very night."

Kenta rubbed his chin. "Yes, that will work for me. Give us some time to pack our bags and then we can be off."

"Way ahead of you, Aniki!" Tsubasa ran back into the hotel and rushed out with two suitcases.

"Right," Kenta raised an eyebrow. He entered the hotel, paid for the rooms and sat next to his brother in the back seat of the car. "Girls?" he asked. "Is there nothing more you want from this place? I don't think we'll be back here any time soon."

"Absolutely nothing!" Megumi grinned as she took her seat next to Ritsuko. Ritsuko herself was less convinced of that - she had lived most of her life in Sotoba. Her mother and her little sister, either dead or Risen, would forever remain there. Though she had no idea what had befallen then, she truly hoped they would not rise from the grave to experience the torment she currently experienced. She looked at Megumi again. The young vampiress revelled in what she was, what she could do. And that acknowledgement of her powers is what made her extremely dangerous. Judging by her stress-sense alone, restraint was not something that was in her vocabulary.

Ritsuko drove the car onto the main road out of Mizobe, past the hospital. One last glance at a sign _'Sotoba, 15km'_. It had an odd sense of finality to it.

"Hey, Tsubasa," Megumi suddenly piped up, a sadistic grin on her face. "I hear you've been keeping... quite the interesting _subject material_ underneath your bed."

Ritsuko looked into the rear-view mirror to see Kenta grinning nervously. On Tsubasa's face, she saw acute mortification, which soon turned into rage. He then turned to his brother with balled fists.

"You _bastard_!" he shouted. "You complete and utter _bastard_!"

"Hey!" Kenta snickered while Tsubasa assaulted him with a continuous series of slaps and punches.

"How could you do that?" he yelled. "How can you embarrass me like that in front of two cute and hot girls like that?" Ritsuko bit her tongue at the "hot" comment.

"It's not _my_ fault you can't hide your porn stash better!" Kenta laughed.

"This is even worst than the time you left me standing at the gas station!"

"I came back!"

"Yeah, after an _hour_!"

"You were annoying! I wanted to make you sweat a little!"

Next to her, Megumi giggled for a moment. Ritsuko had to admit it was rather comical. But there was a more serious matter at hand. She could see that Megumi was clearly pleased with the intrigue she had just caused.

At that moment, she worried about the boys. She had known Megumi since she had been a little girl, and knew she had a mean streak. Unfortunately, since becoming a Shiki, Megumi's mean-streak had developed into something borderline to pure sadism. Ritsuko just hoped the unsuspecting brothers wouldn't fall victim to that.

In backseat, Kenta had taken Tsubasa into a vice-like headlock and was rubbing his knuckles over the top of his head. Tsubasa, of course, was flailing and cursing in response and loudly proclaimed Kenta was making him look bad in front of 'the chicks'.

Ritsuko sighed. If there was one thing she was planning to do right in this new unlife of hers, it would be to make sure the boys would come to no harm. She would protect them from harm, even from Megumi should the need arise.

As the car drove by a hospital, Megumi looked out the window and at a specific room in general. Ritsuko didn't know why, but the look on her face showed a tone of sadness.

"So long…Kaori-chan…" the busty pinkette looked down, her hair covering her eyes. "Sorry…for what I did…"

The boys were still rough housing in the back, Kenta laughing and Tsubasa struggling, but the busty greenhead was able to pick up Megumi's comment. A glimmer of hope for Megumi came to Ritsuko, as it showed some form of regret on the flamboyant's Shiki's personality. She smiled and continued the drive, seeing a road sign leading to Nagasaki, 193 kilometers to go.

Elsewhere, in the hospital, Kaori was pressed up against the glass of the window. "I saw her!" Kaori shouted at her brother. "That was Megumi-chan! Megumi-chan was in that car!"

"Calm down!" Akira held her hand. "Nee-san, get a hold of yourself. Maybe you just saw someone who looked like her. You said yourself that the car was moving fast."

"It was her!" Kaori stressed. "I had to be her! I can recognize Megumi-chan everywhere!"

"We don't even know she's still alive!" Akira pressed. "For all we know, she could have died in the fire in Sotoba!"

Kaori let out a frustrated cry. "Then how do you explain this?" she said and produced a necklace. "This was Megumi-chan's! And suddenly I woke up holding it. She was here, Akira-kun! In this room! She still wants to finish the job. She wants to kill us!"

Akira bit his lip. He had no comeback to that. "Well, let's assume she was here then. For just a moment think about it. If she was here in this room, why aren't you dead?"

Kaori fell silent, for she had no comeback this time. "I... I don't know," she said, clutching the necklace to her chest. "Maybe something in Megumi-chan that was my childhood friend has survived somehow."

Akira sighed. "This is stupid," he said. "Aunt and uncle will come to pick us up tomorrow. Let's not worry about the necklaces and vampires anymore. Let's leave Sotoba behind forever."

Kaori nodded, looking out of the window one last time. Just wondering how many more Shiki besides Megumi were out there.

Waiting.

**Also, for those who read the recent Shiki manga chapter, expect someone to be saved. Also, Ozaki, Sunako, and Seishin will be appearing later down the road, but the Taneka siblings won't be.**

**Hope you enjoyed! Next update maybe Words or CMM or Giver, depending on my editor.**


	4. Bonus Entry: Kirishiki and Muroi: Trial

**I do not own Shiki and neither does Useful Oxymoron, Fuji TV and Fuyumi Ono do.**

Kirishiki Sunako had been quiet and demure ever since the horrors of Sotoba, but today Muroi Seishin found her to be even more quiet than usual. It had only been two days since they arrived at Nagasaki, and Sunako had received a summons from the local coven leader. Seishin was new to this world beneath a world, but was slowly starting to see the machinations of the world of darkness the Shiki moved in. And it was more convoluted and complex than he ever could have imagined.

The Nagasaki Shiki coven was loosely organized into several sects which answered to a single coven leader. Every sect had several safe-houses and lived by a set of strict rules regarding feeding, procreation and movement. He reckoned they had to be able to survive, but the way Sunako had described it, it felt as much as a cage as anything else. The sects had several human servants, hopefuls who were promised to one day be turned.

"Sunako-san?" Seishin asked as he pulled into the driveway of what seemed to be an ordinary run-of-the-mill family abode. "Are you sure this is it?"

"We're here," she whispered. The two left the car and walked over to the front door. They were let into a seemingly completely normal living room. Two Shiki stood guard next to a regal lady with porcelain skin wearing a colorful daifuku. He had learned that she was the coven leader, Kasumi, a woman born at the start of the Edo period and one of the first Shiki in Japan. And for the first time since Sotoba, Seishin saw Sunako smile. It had become a precious thing to him.

"Sunako-chan!" Kasumi exclaimed and held out her arms. The vampire child accepted the embrace gratefully.

Seishin was surprised that Sunako allowed herself to be called -chan. But then again, from what he had learned, he knew that Shiki had a strict hierarchal society based on age. Just as the Shiki is Sotoba had shown deference to Sunako because she was the oldest, Sunako has to show deference to Kasumi because she was _her_ elder. To the Shiki, age meant strength, power and the cunning to have survived for so long.

"My sweet Sunako-chan," Kasumi smiled gently, but sadness crossed her eyes. "You're in trouble, my little one."

Sunako lowered her gaze. "Who did they send, Kasumi-sama?" she asked.

Kasumi looked away briefly. "Sunako..."

"Who?" a visibly worried Sunako pressed.

Kasumi closed her eyes. "Sunderland."

Seishin was instantly concerned when he saw the sheer abject terror on Sunako's face the moment Kasumi had mentioned that name. Kasumi caught his concerned and shook her head.

"He wishes to see you, little one. He is waiting for you upstairs, in the guest room," Kasumi said and ran a hand through her hair. "Be strong, Sunako-chan. Be strong."

Sunako released herself from the embrace and slowly walked towards the stairs, as if her shoes were lined with lead. "Seishin," she looked over her shoulders. A look shared between them was enough.

"Stop," Seishin said. "You don't have to go alone. I can help you, I..."

"No," Kasumi interrupted. "Sunako-chan can only help herself."

"But..." Seishin pressed while Sunako slowly walked up the stairs.

"Sunderland is a member of the Conclave," Kasumi spoke sadly. "My little one has gained the attention of those infinity her greater. Let us pray to any god who will listen that she will survive it."

Seishin gasped. He had learned about the Conclave from Sunako. Shiki were ruled by age, and the Conclave consisted of the oldest of all.

"We can only hope," Kasumi sighed sadly.

Sunako knocked once on the door to the guest room.

"Enter!" sounded a voice in English from the other side of the door. Sunako did so.

The guest room was sparsely furnished, but did have a large window overlooking the foothills. There was a single wooden chair in the middle of the room and at the window, with his back turned to her, stood a young looking man wearing a rather nondescript set of jeans and sweater. He had brown hair and five-o'clock shadow. This was Augustus Jay Sunderland. A Jinrou, member of the Conclave, Inquisitor and quite possibly her executioner.

Sunako stood at the door, unsure of what to do. Sunderland himself was apparently on the phone, talking with someone in English. He held up his finger, signifying that he didn't want her to disturb him.

"I see," he spoke into his phone. "I see. How much exactly does he know? Hm, unfortunate… He refused the money? Threats were ineffective? He still wants justice be done to the 'corpse demons'. Regrettable. No options left then. Make him disappear for good. You may cook up any cover story you like, just be effective. Yes… Yes… Thank you," he said and hung up, now leaving Sunako to his full attention.

"Sit!" Sunderland demanded in a thick Scottish accent. Sunako did so and twiddled nervously with her thumbs while the man kept staring out the window.

Suddenly, he turned around and marched towards her. He stopped in front of her and bent down, his face inches from hers. "What the bloody, bloody, bloody hell were you _thinking!_

"I..."

"Silence!" Sunderland shouted. "I had to be suddenly flown in from my lovely, quiet Aberdeen mansion to clean up _your _mess! And what a mess it is!"

"I..."

"Did I say you were allowed to speak?" Sunderland roared, his normal blue eyes turning red and black. "Did I? Do you even realize what you've done? You've risked exposing us all! Not just you and your coterie, but vampires everywhere! Half the vampire community is crying out for your blood, do you know that?"

Suddenly, he half-grinned. "And the other half is praising you for trying to break the monotony and for your braver. It puts me in a rather awkward position. You may speak."

"I..." Sunako started, in perfect English. So well to compare to a normal English speaker in America. "I know what I've lost. People I loved. Friends whom I cared for. I thought it was all worth the risk."

Sunderland sighed and rubbed his chin. "I've been working damage control around the clock. I've got agents in place to deal with situation. Our friends in the media are cooperating as planned. We're falsifying witness reports, placing evidence here and there. We're pinning it on the local doctor, Ozaki. By the time I'm through he'll be the most wanted man in Asia. _'Crazed physician uses local superstitions to stir up a massacre'_. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? But that still leaves me you to deal with."

Sunako looked down. "Does the Conclave want me dead?"

"They are divided, like all vampires are," Sunderland said. "Anastasia wants to elevate you to a member of the Conclave for your bravery. Andrei wants you skinned and put you in front of his fireplace like a little rug. Mina wants to you to be roasted in the sun. Mobuto wants you lauded. Tzu wants you put in a sealed coffin and dumped into the sea, and Vlad... well..." Sunderland smirked. "Let's just say that I take Vlad's threats with a grain of salt. It's his indiscretions which caused that Irish fool Stoker to reveal some of our weaknesses to the world. So, my fellow members of the Conclave, in their infinite wisdom, decided to let me handle the situation as I see fit."

"Is this to be my last night, then?" Sunako asked softly. "I took a risk. I am prepared to live and die with the consequences."

"I can smell your fear," Sunderland noted. "You are not as brave as you want me to believe."

Sunako closed her eyes. It was true, she did fear death. God rejected her... she would find no loving embrace, no afterlife. Just the empty cold void of oblivion.

"You'll be happy to know that we have recovered some survivors from Sotoba," Sunderland broke her thoughts.

Sunako gasped. "Really? Who?"

"Some members of your coterie," Sunderland spoke. "About a handful for vampires... or Shiki is it now? Is that how you called your coterie? Quaint little name I suppose. I don't think it'll catch on anywhere outside of Japan, though. In any case, I've had mostly pleasant conversations with all of them, with Kasumi kindly acting as a translator for most of them. They've helped me piece together what has happened in Sotoba."

"Who survived!" Sunako pressed impatiently. In spite of herself, there was joy in her heart.

"Shizuka and Yoshie are the names of people you are familiar with," Sunderland spoke. "Unfortunately, Shizuka won't talk. Kasumi explained to me that she used to talk through a doll of some sort. Since she was not found with the doll, I gather it was destroyed in the fire. Until she gets a new doll, Shizuka won't speak. However, Yoshie was more talkative. Oh, she didn't want to at first, but since..."

"... You are an elder," Sunako nodded. "I don't blame her."

"For what it's worth," Sunderland started. "She was very conflicted about it."

Sunako nodded.

"Then there was a rather unpleasant fellow. Masao something. Lucky bastard he was. Got staked but whomever staked him missed his heart by a hair. He blamed you for everything, including the existence of war, famine and plague. His testimony was suspect at best. Several others as well, fledglings. Kasumi has kindly offered them a place in her coterie here in Nagasaki. They'll be asked to lie low for a while."

"I see," Sunako nodded. "I'm glad some of my companions got out alive."

"Seriously," Sunderland spoke, in a softer, gentler voice. "Why did you do it?"

Sunako looked up and met his gaze. "I wanted to be free."

"That is the reason?"

"Look at us," tears started to streak over her cheeks as she spread her arms in exaggeration. "Is this a life? Is this happiness? We can't even be ourselves. Those humans outside, they have so much and don't realize it. They can go out, make friends, mingle, have families, love, live and be free. We... we're ticks, Sunderland. Parasites. We live in the shadows of the humans, calling ourselves superior predators when we are nothing but pale imitations."

Sunderland sighed. "Sunako, I am over three thousand years old. I've often thought as you have when I was younger. But when you get to a certain age you come to realize that you can change little to nothing. We are cursed creatures, Sunako. Damned with stagnation and solitude."

"I wanted to create a life for us. Something precious to be proud of. A place where we could live as a people."

Sunderland chuckled. "How long do you think it would have lasted, Sunako? They would have found out eventually. In fact, we're lucky this entire charade blew up in your face. Because, really, how was Sotoba, a backwater village, as a vampire enclave anything else than a pale imitation of life?"

Sunako had no answer for him. The past couple of days, she had been going over her plan more or less constantly, finding all the flaws, wondering how she could have avoided failure. What she had done wrong. Why the people she loved were now gone.

"Yes, because building a fairy-tale castle in the middle of rural Japan is _so_ inconspicuous, although I do admit, you have a decent taste in architecture." Sunderland laughed.

Sunako cringed. He was right again.

"I did what I felt I had to do," Sunako whispered. "For all of us. I had to try. And I failed."

"Kasumi spoke very highly of you," Sunderland spoke. "You are lucky to have someone as respected as her to stick her neck out for you. And that is one of the reasons why your punishment will be mild. As of today, you are no longer allowed to have followers for an as yet to be determined time. You will defer to Kasumi as your master vampire and if you try to pull a stunt like this again, you will be forced into Torpor for at least two centuries. Do I make myself clear?"

Sunako nodded with relief. Though she had lost a great deal of power and prestige in the Shiki world, she was allowed continued existence. Truthfully, she hadn't expected someone of Sunderland's reputation to be so lenient. In the end, she had been stripped of her rank and all her privileges. She was a normal vampire now, under the command of Kasumi. Though she supposed she had gotten off easy.

"There is one matter to be left resolved," Sunderland spoke and opened a door leading into the next room. Through it stepped a greatly weakened and trumbling young female vampire. "Come now, miss Nao," he spoke softly in English. Nao nodded her understanding. "She is here. Will you tell her what you told me?"

Sunako looked at the young vampire. She had hate and sadness in her eyes. And an intensity which shocked her. Sunako was not used to fledglings daring to oppose her or even treating her with anything less than respect and devotion.

"You came my peaceful home," Nao trembled and switched from broken English to Japanese. "You took my life... and then you told me to attack my family... so that they could become like me... My husband... my son... my parents... None of them rose... All of them dead! You made me kill my own family! And you knew! You knew they wouldn't come back! And still you..." She trembled with rage. "_You little bitch! I'll kill you! I'll KILL YOU!"_ She roared in Japanese.

Sunderland grabbed her around the waist before she could attack Sunako and flung her onto the bed. Nao rolled into a ball and started sobbing. "Oh god, let me die! Please, I just want die," Nao cried softly.

"Miss Nao," Sunderland spoke. "Words cannot describe the sorrow I feel for your loss and the circumstances of this entire mess."

Sunako had been shaken to her very core, confronted as she was with the consequences of her plan. It had been easy to execute it from her mansion. Easy to only see the big picture and not be bothered with the more... ethically difficult results. She had wronged Nao greatly, as did she wrong many more. It was easy to just not see it from her ivory tower, and surprisingly hard when confronted with it.

"I wanted you to see that," Sunderland spoke. "What happened in Sotoba was tragic, for both humans and vampires."

Just then the door splintered. Seishin stood at the ready to defend her and she gathered that the commotion just now had prodded him into action. Immediately, Seishin stood between Sunako and Sunderland. "No!" Sunako shouted in her native tongue. "Seishin-kun! Don't!"

"Speak in English in my presence, damn you!" Sunderland roared. Immediately, Seishin froze up, his face contorted in pain as he fell to the ground under Sunderland's gaze.

"Seishin!" Sunako rushed up to him.

"Don't worry," Sunderland smirked. "Just a small inducement of pain, nothing more. I swear, Sunako, you do know how to inspire loyalty. I'd say you're a natural leader if you couldn't just aim for proper goals. In any case, we are done here. Defer yourself to Kasumi. I will be remaining in Nagasaki until this Sotoba mess has been resolved."

Sunako was relieved to see Seishin recovering. It was then that Seishin spotted the sobbing woman on the bed. "N-nao-san?" he whispered.

Nao continued her triade of sniffles and sobs on the bed. Seishin approached her slowly.

"Are you sure you should be approaching her, Daywalker?" asked Sunderland. Seishin turned around in confusion.

"Daywalker?" He asked in English

"It's the english variant for _Jinrou_ Seishin," pointed out Sunako. Kasumi stood by her side. The monk nodded and kneeled down towards Nao.

"Nao-san? Hey...it's me, Muroi Seishin. You know, from Sotoba and college? Remember?" Seishin asked in a kind voice and in Japanese. Nao slowly turned her head, her tear stained red eyes staring into Seishin's gray ones.

"Seishin-san...what are you doing here..." The monk turned towards Sunako, who nodded.

"Well...I too was turned...and I survived..." explained the monk. Nao slowly shifted herself to stare into Seishin.

"What about your family...your mother and father?" Seishin shook his head.

"They didn't make it...the villagers killed my mother who had no knowledge of us Shiki. She was caught in the crossfire as an innocent bystander...and father rose but was slain I'm afraid..." Nao gasped. His mother was slain? She was kind to everyone!

"Not your mother! She was too kind! She would never hurt anyone! You mean that..."

"They killed her...because I hid in the temple, and she had no knowledge of me being there at all. The temple workers tried to protect her but they were overwhelmed..." Sunako looked away this time, feeling more guilt this time rise. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and Kasumi's hand on it.

The memories are going through Seishin's mind, back in the old days, back in the college days. When he, Ozaki, and Mikiyasu would hang out in the courtyards doing work, socializing, seeing the girls go by...and there was one girl Seishin was transfixed on.

And her name was Tsunashi Nao, who was good friends with all of three men, but eventually married Mikiyasu. Infact, it was Seishin that introduced her to him. And yet, Seishin couldn't help but hate himself...

He hated himself for not asking her out sooner, for not gaining her affection, only remaining as a friend of the family rather than someone to be loved. Ozaki even got a bride, but it was out of solidifying family ties other than out of love. And Seishin was alone…alone due to his inability to act. And he lost the girl that understood him the most…

He hated himself so much he almost killed himself, slicing his wrists but failed to execute the act…

"Seishin is it?" the Jinrou's train of thought was interuppted by Sunderland.

"_Anno_…yes?" responded the priest in English.

"I see that you must be Sunako's Daywalker, or as she calls it Jinrou. They are few and far between so I'll let you stay in the Nagasaki coven. However, Kasumi here will be your master, not Sunako. Do I make myself clear?"

"I understand." Seishin bowed and turned towards the door. "And…sorry about the door…"

"Nothing some money can't handle. Now all of you be gone. I must continue on mopping up. There could be more survivors. Also, Seishin…."

Seishin's head quirked.

"His last name is Muroi, Master Sunderland," pointed out Sunako.

"Muroi! Since there could be survivors of Sotoba, and you're a native there I would like you to take part in the retrieval effort. Understand?" ordered Sunderland. Seishin nodded.

"Yes, I be happy to take part," answered the priest.

"Good, you will meet with Sorenson, Hamid, and Takashi tomorrow but now you all must rest. I'll also leave that Nao girl in your care as well. Now leave me." All of the vampires bowed and left, leaving the Scottsmen to brood.

"Muroi-san?" The priest turned towards the blue-haired woman.

"Yes?"

"Well…when I go to sleep…will you…" she wrapped an arm around her. "Take care of me?" She whispered. Seishin's heart jerked. Here was Nao, the girl of his affection, offering herself to him, but he didn't want to abuse that right…

"You mean…you want to sleep with me?"

"I just don't want to be alone…not anymore…you're the only I know that's left…we won't have sex or anything but…I need someone…" Seishin turned towards Kasumi who nodded.

"It's fine. Go ahead, you can use one of the guest rooms." Seishin nodded and turned towards Sunako.

"I am sorry Sunako-san, but I-"

"It's alright. Give her comfort…" Seishin walked with Nao, hand on her opposing shoulder and escorted her to the guest room.

**Written by Useful Oxymoron and Zaru.**


End file.
